Tlokwe DA approaches High Court

The DA in Tlokwe (Potchefstroom) has approached the High Court in Pretoria ahead of a proposal by the ANC to pass a vote of no confidence in the local mayor.

The Democratic Alliance said it wanted the court to decide on what its North West leader Chris Hattingh described as irregularities in the ANC’s attempt to regain power in the municipality.

“Details of these irregularities will be made public when the court makes its decision on when the matter should be heard,” Hattingh said in a statement.

The ANC in the municipality intended tabling a motion of no confidence in DA municipal leader Annette Combrink at a council meeting tomorrow.

“The DA believes that the ANC is resorting to irregular means to gain back power in an attempt to cover up fraud and corruption before it is exposed,” Hattingh said.

Fighting ANC factions passed a motion of no confidence in Mayor Maphetle Maphetle in November.

He was replaced by Combrink – the first DA mayor in the province – when she defeated ANC candidate Lucky Tsagae by 20 votes to 19 for the mayoral position.

North West ANC spokesman Kenny Morolong referred all enquiries about the DA in Tlokwe to the ANC’s national spokesman Jackson Mthembu.

Mthembu and spokesman Keith Khoza were not immediately available for comment.

Hattingh said the motion of no-confidence in Maphetle was based on a number of documented allegations of fraud and corruption.

“A forensic investigation instituted by the DA-led Tlokwe municipality into these and more allegations is at an advanced stage,” he said.

“This may be the reason for the desperate ANC attempts to regain control and to start a cover-up operation, a common tactic in the North West provincial government.”

The DA said on February 7 it would table a motion of no confidence in Barei Segotso, the municipal speaker, at the same meeting tomorrow.

According to reports, President Jacob Zuma, ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa, secretary-general Gwede Mantashe and chairperson Baleka Mbete made an unannounced visit to the municipality on February 11.

Mantashe later told reporters that the leaders were there to discuss numerous problems in the North West and were not looking at Tlokwe in isolation.

DA leader Helen Zille said on Saturday that there had been significant improvements in the municipality in the three months it had been led by Combrink.

“While the Democratic Alliance may continue to govern in Tlokwe for only a few days more, we can be proud that we have made major strides in making this a more delivery-focused municipality,” Zille said in a statement.